San Jose State on the verge of national rankings

SAN JOSE -- San Jose State moved to the cusp of being ranked in both national polls after its thrilling 52-43 win over Louisiana Tech before a national television audience Saturday night.

The Spartans received 78 votes in The Associated Press poll, where they matched their highest ranking in school history in that poll at 26th. The last team in the poll, No. 25 Boise State, has 145 votes.

In the USA Today Coaches poll, San Jose State (10-2) is 27th with 105 votes. No. 25 Rutgers has 152 votes.

The Spartans have never been ranked in the top 25 in either poll. They finished the 1990 season ranked No. 20 in the now-defunct UPI poll and also were No. 26 in the final AP ranking that season after going 9-2-1.

The jump in votes is remarkable considering as recently as two weeks ago, the Spartans received zero votes in the coaches poll and just four in the AP poll, with all of those coming from one voter.

This week, SJSU appeared on 27 of 60 ballots cast by AP voters across the nation and were ranked as high as No. 21. The Spartans seem poised to achieve their goal of being nationally-ranked if they can win their bowl game.

"Not many teams will win 10 football games this year," SJSU coach Mike MacIntyre said after the game. "And if we get the 11th, there won't be many teams with 11 wins. That puts us in a special category. We'd like to be, at the end of the day, in the top 25 if we win one more."